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 Colmanweb Planet Fact Pages. Use the links below:
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Do Aliens Exist?
At www.prezi.com is my recent assembly presentation on whether aliens exist; a sensible discussion of issues surrounding the idea. It was extremely well received by both students and staff. The main link above is for the commentary for the assembly.
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Powers of 10
Link to a great animation by the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University demonstrating why standard form is useful. Goes from 1023, 10million light years away from the Milky Way, through to 10-16, examining quarks!
(For an alternative, click non-internet based version +ve powers and non-internet based version -ve powers) |
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 Powers of 10
A good flash animation version of the animated gif (above). Only positive powers however. |
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 Hubble Deep Field
This is a link to the Space Observatories in School website that hosts this activity. Pupils will use the Hubble Deep Field to estimate the number of galaxies in the universe. Lots of mathematics application here & a fair amount of wow factor too!
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 Mr Cripps' Guide to the Universe
How exactly do all of those astronomical things shape up? Which are bigger & which are smaller than others? This ppt animation shows you the relative sizes, with a little help from a collegue of mine!
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Eagle Zoom
Similar kind of activity to the previous one, this time we zoom out of the Eagle Nebula
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 Gravity & the Inverse Square Law
An applied use of inverse proportion. Good but difficult example! |
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 Solar System Fact Sheet
MS Excel sheet that gives info to make a scale model of the distances between the planets for any size room (or peice of paper etc) that you choose
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Seasons On Saturn
A great trigonometrical activity to find Saturns orbital period and when it will next appear edge-on. Use the essential files below:
Further useful files:
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Altitudes
Pupils cut & arrange cards to learn about relative altitudes & distances from Earth of features, satellites (natural & artificial) & stars.
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How far is the horizon from any given height?
Pupils use Pythagoras to work out how far away the horizon is from any given altitude. This file sets up the mathematical model and then gives the answer too. An easier, more numeric version. The answers and working to the numeric version. |
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Space Shuttle Facts
Figures on mass and thrust of space shuttle on launch |
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STS-110 Nominal Trajectory Data
Data returned by the shuttle on the ascent to space of STS-110 mission. |
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 NASA's Educational Rockets Activities
External pdf download of NASA's Rocket Guide educational brief. |
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Industrial Strength Paper Rockets
Three versions of instructions for constructing the launcher for 'Industrial Strength Paper Rockets':
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Rocket Trigonometry & Rocket Paths
Two files to use when doing Water Rockets or Air Powered Rockets. The first is a PowerPoint show to explain briefly (assuming a minimal understanding of trigonometry) how we can use angle and distance to calculate the maximum height of the rocket. The second is an MS Excel worksheet that calculates max height from pupils measurements. I suggest that pupils practice using the formula by hand before they use this time saving tool. |
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Mathematics of a Total Solar Eclipse
A good 'similar triangles' activity to explain the shadow of a total solar eclipse. Harder examples of the main activity.
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Would a cat land on its feet in Zero-G?
This question was put to NASA by a school pupil so they took a cat up in the Vomit-Comet to try to answer it. Here's what happened! (Not for animal lovers!) |
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Dolls Head in a Vacuum
What would happen to you if you didn't wear a spacesuit on an EVA (extra vehicular activity) in space? Watch this to find out just one of the consequences, 7.5mb.
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Mars Exploration Rover Animation
Link to a NASA page from where you can download the MER Animation showing take-off, cruise and landing on Mars plus some off the science that the Rovers have been doing. There's a new RealVideo of this animation too. Pages of other Mars Exploration Rover resources are at:
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Mission Control, Houston
Interactive guide to who sits where and does what at Mission Control, Houston. |
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Ring Wing Glider
Pdf document with instructions for pupils to cut out & create a wing glider from a single peice of A4 paper. |
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Rotor Motor
Pdf document with templates for pupils to cut out & create sycamore type flying devices. |
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Russian Mars
Simple 7 slide Powerpoint show of Russian plans to go to Mars. These plans are quite advanced and have been around since the 1980's! Worth a look! The www.energia.ru website. |
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Mars Crash
Pupils decide what 'tools' would be useful and which wouldn't following a crash landing on Mars. (Written by Mr Cripps of Neatherd High School.) |
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Mars Animation
Uses Hubble pictures to show the apparent size of Mars at different times of the 2 year cycle between Mars appearing large and appearing small in the sky. Use with the 'Mars Orbit' file below. |
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Mars Orbit
'Flash' animation to show the comparative orbits of Earth & Mars. Demonstrates why Mars appears larger in the sky every two years. |
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Cannonball Orbit
Nice demo from NASA JPL that demonstrates how to put things into orbit. |
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Orbit Game
Shoot the comet to avoid the planets, and their gravitational fields. |
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Mars Activities 1 and Mars Activities 2
Two Mars Activity Guides that take pupils through various aspects of the Red Planet (getting there, living there, mapping the surface to name just a few). The first guide is aimed at slightly older pupils than the second but have a look at both to choose your favourite activities from each. (These both download from external sources.) |
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US based Steve Spangler Science sell UV beads - they change colour in sunlight (UV light) - kids love them, they're a great Astronomy sellpoint. The UV beads page, Steve Spangler mainpage. Prices are ok but postage isn't, worth it though in any case. |
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Planisphere
A nice program for making printable (via pdf) planispheres (tells you whats in the sky for any particular time & place) for pupils to cut out and use. This is a link is to the external website from where I downloaded the program where there is also a convenient help page on how to use it.
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STEREO Model
Cut out and make a model of the STEREO Spacecraft (pdf).
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